American performance fans heartbroken by the decision to keep the Toyota GR Yaris, a furious and tiny street-legal rally car, from our shores have been thrown a very juicy bone. The one-size-up, just-as-feral 2023 Toyota GR Corolla is coming later this year as the king of consolation prizes. That’s right, the Corolla, which has for decades been an easy-to-recommend, easy-to-forget commuter—in a word, boring—has gone on a performance-addled bender here, egged on by Toyota’s Gazoo Racing (GR) performance division.
We’ve known about the GR Corolla for some time now, what with all the overt teasers Toyota has been dropping. Part of that was to build hype, but part of it was also the fact the car was delayed a year. Not by the chip shortage or the pandemic, but by Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda himself. An accomplished racing driver, he insisted on signing off personally on the GR Corolla, and when he wasn’t happy with the final tuning, he sent it back to GR for more work. As we’ve heard before, the boss has very strong feelings about how a sports car should feel, and he wanted the GR Corolla to feel like a street-legal rally car.
“The biggest challenge [building this car],” GR Corolla chief engineer Naoyuki Sakamoto told MotorTrend, “was Akio Toyoda’s targets.”
MOAR Power
Toyota didn’t just throw GR Yaris parts at the Corolla Hatchback, appease Akio with tuning and re-tuning the thing, and call it a day. Critically, the Corolla gets a more powerful iteration of the Yaris’ 1.6-liter turbocharged I-3 to offset its greater size and curb weight. Now boosted to 300 hp and 273 lb-ft of torque, what was already the most powerful production three-cylinder engine in the world is even more so, making an extra 43 hp and 8 lb-ft in this tune.
The engine is otherwise similar to the unit in the GR Yaris, port- and direct-injected with a ball-bearing turbo integrated into the exhaust manifold, big exhaust valves, and piston-cooling oil squirters. Toyota credits some of the power gain to a more efficient exhaust system with a three-piece, three-tip muffler. The exhaust exits the Corolla’s tail from two outboard round outlets flanking a central, oval-shaped outlet. The center outlet is opened by a valve at high rpm and bypasses the mufflers for minimum back pressure. The rest comes from software tweaks optimizing the combustion process for the new exhaust system as well as small changes to the pistons. Peak power doesn’t hit until 6,500 rpm, and peak torque holds from 3,000 to 5,550 rpm, so midrange power should be stout like in the GR Yaris and joined by a preference at the top end for being revved out.
Thanks to the extra oomph, the GR Corolla sports a better weight-to-power ratio (10.8 pounds per horsepower) than the smaller GR Yaris (11.1). Side note for any Subaru WRX STI fans looking to jump ship now that the car is going out of production for an unspecified term: The last-generation STI (excluding the limited-production Series.White and S209) had a weight-to-power ratio of 11.3 pounds per hp.
Row Your Own
The rest of the GR Yaris’ gear has been cribbed wholesale. Yes, that means the GR Corolla will only be offered with a six-speed manual transmission and Toyota’s new high-performance, adjustable-torque-split GR-Four all-wheel-drive system. The transmission does get automatic rev matching, which can hopefully be disabled as easily as it is on a standard Corolla Hatchback. Both the transmission and all-wheel drive system have been strengthened to handle the extra power and weight. There are currently no plans for an automatic or dual-clutch transmission, but the company wouldn’t rule one out if demand is strong enough.
Pop for the Performance package on the base Core Grade or step all the way up to the Circuit Edition (pictured here in gray), and you get the front and rear Torsen mechanical limited-slip differentials, too. Both models utilize their brakes to grab lightly at the inside wheels during cornering to help induce yaw. Like the GR Yaris, the GR Corolla’s all-wheel-drive system can be set to 60/40 (street), 50/50 (track), or 30/70 (off-road) front/rear torque split to match the surface and the driving style. A center coupling sends more and more power to the rear end depending on how tightly it’s locked up, allowing the manually adjustable torque split.
Toyota hasn’t given an estimated 0-60-mph time, but the improved weight-to-power ratio, the same drivetrain, and the same Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires mean it should be as quick as if not slightly quicker than the GR Yaris, which Toyota pegs at 5.5 seconds. Another note for the STI faithful: The quickest we could get the outgoing STI to 60 mph was 5.7 seconds, mostly because of changes Subaru made that wouldn’t allow a redline clutch-dump launch anymore.
Make It Turn
As the newest and now only street-legal rally car on sale, what with the Ford Focus RS, Mitsubishi Evo, and now the Subaru WRX STI having moved on to that great gravel pit in the sky, the GR Corolla is about more than straight-line speed. MacPherson struts in front and control arms in the rear locate the wheels, backed up by “circuit-tuned” springs, anti-roll bars, and KYB shocks. Sakamoto says the ride is stiffer but not punishing, body roll is reduced, and the roll center is raised closer to the center of gravity. The front axle suspension crossmember has also been lightened to improve the weight balance. The Michelins are a square 235/40R18 size at all corners, with every car coming with gloss black 15-spoke 18-inch wheels. Braking is handled by four-piston fixed calipers on 14-inch vented and slotted rotors in front and two-piston fixed calipers on 11.7-inch vented rotors in the rear. More important, it has a proper mechanical handbrake.
All of this gear is bolted to a more conventional platform than the GR Yaris, which uses a mash-up of Toyota’s TNGA-B and TNGA-C small car platforms. The GR Corolla is all TNGA-C, just like the standard Corolla, but techs on the dedicated GR assembly line at the Motomatchi plant assemble it by hand and add 349 additional welds and an extra 8.9 feet of structural adhesive to stiffen up the body, the same way the GR Yaris is built. Extra bracing is also installed in the floor to get the standard Corolla Hatchback chassis stiff enough for track duty.
Lest you think Toyota took the GR Corolla less seriously, remember the GR Yaris needed to be specially modified from a four-door to a two-door car in order to compete in the FIA World Rally Championship. The GR Corolla doesn’t have to meet those regulations, and it keeps its four-door layout, but is otherwise every bit as focused and worked-over as its smaller sibling.
Sakamoto would also like to point out that while the GR Corolla is very capable off-road, it has been designed and tuned for the racetrack. As such, it has no additional ground clearance and no underbody protection save some lightweight panels designed to create a flat floor for better aerodynamics. Go attack some gravel at your own peril.
Bigger and Better
Cramming all that hardware up under a compact hatchback necessarily stretched it out a bit. With its aggressive new bodywork, all of which Toyota says is functional, the GR Corolla is 1.5 inches longer, 2.4 inches wider, and 0.1 inch taller than a standard Corolla Hatchback. It’s also heavier for the same reason, weighing in at 3,249 pounds per Toyota, 250 pounds heavier than the last Corolla Hatchback we weighed.
Could be worse. Toyota says much work went into minimizing or offsetting the weight gain. Specifically called out are an aluminum hood and front doors, as well as strategically located high-strength steels in the chassis. Circuit Edition cars also get a forged carbon-fiber roof said to save literal “ounces.” Naturally, more lightweighting was possible, but Toyota wanted to keep the price in check.
Those dimensions also make the Corolla 16.2 inches longer, 1.8 inches wider, 0.1 inch shorter in height, and about 350 to 400 pounds heavier than the GR Yaris. While the extra power covers for the size and weight in a straight line, it’ll be interesting to see how the extra mass and 3.1-inch-longer wheelbase affect the handling compared to the spunky GR Yaris.
Special Touches
If you want a GR Corolla Circuit Edition, get your name in now. It’s a limited edition, one-year model that’ll follow the Core Grade into production in 2023. Along with the carbon roof, you get a bulging vented hood, a bigger rear spoiler, artificial suede trimmed sport seats, and a shift knob engraved with the signature of Morizo, Akio Toyoda’s racing alter ego.
Circuit Editions also get the option of the Heavy Metal gray paint pictured here. Core Grade models come in red, white, or black with a color-matched roof and cloth sport seats.
Maintain Control
Inside, every GR Corolla dumps the regular Corolla’s instrument cluster for a 12.3-inch TFT screen with gauges specifically suggested by Toyota’s pro drivers, including drive mode and torque split, boost pressure, and gear position. The shifter itself has been repositioned slightly to make it easier to reach, had its lever and throws shortened, and has additional bracing installed on the cables to improve feel.
Elsewhere on the dash, all GR Corollas get the new Toyota Audio Multimedia system, a massive step forward from Toyota’s old infotainment system. The 8.0-inch touchscreen comes with a voice-activated digital assistant, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and over-the-air update capability. The system will roll out to all Corollas during the next full-model refresh. Core Grade cars get a six-speaker audio system that can be upgraded to the Circuit Edition’s standard eight-speaker JBL audio system. Also on the docket: automatic climate control, one-touch power windows, and optional heated front seats and steering wheel (standard on Circuit Editions).
Further evidence this isn’t a stripped-down, street-legal race car: All GR Corollas come standard with Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, another feature coming to all Corollas in the future. That means you get things like adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning with lane centering, blind-spot warning, advanced collision warning, automatic emergency braking, and more whether you want them or not.
When and How Much
Toyota isn’t talking dollars yet, but tells us it’ll be “competitive” with the other 300-hp hot hatches on the market, which the company points out all start under $40,000 (see: Volkswagen Golf R, Honda Civic Type R, Hyundai Veloster N). The GR Yaris costs the equivalent of $39,000 to $44,000 depending on model, so we think that’s a good range to plan for.
The when is a bit easier. Toyota says the GR Corolla Core Grade will go on sale this fall and we’ve heard hints that means September. The Circuit Edition will follow sometime in 2023. Toyota hopes to move 6,000 to 6,500 cars per year but could change output based on demand.
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